Kevin Guskiewicz, who served as the chancellor of UNC for nearly five years before departing for Michigan State University in 2024, has been elected as the next president of Clemson University. Clemson announced Guskiewicz’s appointment Wednesday.
Guskiewicz had been a known figure on the UNC campus prior to his chancellorship. As a researcher, Guskiewicz’s work on brain trauma and concussions led to national recognition, grants from the National Football League and a MacArthur “Genius Grant.” He was appointed as the dean of UNC’s College of Arts and Sciences in 2016.
In February 2019, UNC selected Guskiewicz to serve as interim chancellor following Carol Folt’s exit, and Guskiewicz was named to the permanent role in December of that year. He oversaw several major undertakings during his chancellorship, including the school’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a $5 billion capital campaign and the launch of the Carolina Across 100 initiative, which addressed issues across the state.
On January 12, 2024, Guskiewicz officially notified the UNC community of his intent to leave Chapel Hill to assume the presidency of Michigan State University.
“I have loved leading Carolina for nearly five years,” Guskiewicz wrote. “We have accomplished so much together, and I am proud of where Carolina is today.”
Guskiewicz officially stepped into the Michigan State presidency on March 4, 2024. He inherited a job made vacant by the resignation of Samuel Stanley, Jr. after Stanley said he had “lost confidence” in the school’s Board of Trustees. To replace Guskiewicz, UNC hired Lee Roberts, a member of the UNC system’s Board of Governors. Like his predecessor, Roberts was initially hired in an interim role before being named permanent chancellor later.
March 2026 marked two years in the Michigan State presidency for Guskiewicz. His departure from East Lansing was not entirely unexpected; earlier in May, Sarah Atwood of The Detroit News reported the Michigan State Board of Trustees voted to nearly double Guskiewicz’s salary to $2 million annually “amid concerns he could leave for another job.”
“I want to be clear: I never asked [for] that,” Guskiewicz told reporters Wednesday after being named Clemson’s president-elect. “I set that all aside and continued to have conversations with Clemson… it was more about an opportunity to go another great institution.”
In his farewell message to the Michigan State community, Guskiewicz hinted at discord among the Board of Trustees, echoing the sentiment shared by his predecessor Stanley in his resignation. Guskiewicz described behavior by some trustees as “discouraging.”
“Effective university leadership requires a shared commitment to collaboration, trust and a forward-looking vision,” Guskiewicz wrote. “While many across this university community have embraced that spirit, it has become increasingly clear that there are differing perspectives within the Board of Trustees regarding how best to move MSU forward. At times, too much energy has been spent revisiting past conflicts and internal disagreements rather than focusing collectively on the opportunities and aspirations ahead of us… our ability to make meaningful progress is hampered when disagreements move from offering alternative perspectives into publicly undermining decisions and putting personal interests above the best interests of the university and our faculty, staff and students.
“What is perhaps most troubling,” Guskiewicz went on to write, “is the actions of some to abuse their access to privileged and confidential information to mispresent facts, manipulate situations and selectively use and leak that information to promote personal agendas.”
Clemson had been searching for its next president since December following the retirement of James Clements, who had served in the role since 2013. Search committee chair Cheri Phyfer said the committee “was overwhelmed” with interested candidates before ultimately landing on Guskiewicz. The university’s Board of Trustees unanimously elected him to the position.
“Kevin Guskiewicz comes to Clemson with extensive experience leading national universities coupled with a vision to guide Clemson into its next chapter,” said Kim Wilkerson, chair of Clemson’s Board of Trustees. “The entire Board of Trustees is excited to welcome Dr. Guskiewicz and continue to build upon Clemson’s 136 years of excellence and service to the citizens of this state.”
Featured image via UNC-Chapel Hill/Johnny Andrews
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